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Provincetown, The "Outer Cape" and Wellfleet Too

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A couple of young 'uns in our family (she is Significant Eater's oldest, and hence first, niece) just had to open a general-store-cum-sandwich shop in Provincetown last summer. After living in Gowanus/Park Slope for the previous 5-6 years. He managed Court St. Grocers; she wrote about food stuff for Huff Po.

They love the Cape. They got married on the Cape, in Truro. Going to their wedding was my first ever visit to the Cape. His family's been New Englanders/Cape Cod people for a long time. As a matter of fact, his last name is among the names that are listed on the Mayflower. The Mayflower, as you all know, landed in Provincetown Harbor. Two years ago, we visited (my 2nd ever visit) and stayed at his dad and stepmom's house in Chatham. His dad, retired, now captains a small charter fishing boat, and that was my first time catching striped bass. I blogged...Lab Day's Ovah.

We wanted to make sure they'd ironed out all issues, so we only waited a year and then visited last week. Pop + Dutch is their grocery on Commercial St. We spent 3 days and nights at the gorgeous Red Inn right at the end of Commercial St; they were mostly working, but we did get to spend some quality time together eating around town and playing.

This was the view from our room...

And we ate a bunch of this...

That's from PJ's Family Restaurant in Wellfleet, and it was great.

Since I think it gets really crazy crowded and partying to the max in July and August, our trips in June and September have been perfectly timed.

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"505" is the area code of Albuquerque, NM, where they met in college and where they spent most of their youths. "212" is the NYC area code. II was asking them to put a club sandwich on the menu while we were there and was keeping my fingers crossed they'd name it the "212." It's the "505" however, because the mayo used on the club sandwich is spiked with New Mexico green chile.

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P-town is a lovely place that's changed a lot in the last couple of decades. Back when I was a kid and my family would rent a cottage down the Cape for a couple of weeks, we always made time for a daytrip there, climbing the amazing sand dunes on the town's outskirts as well as the monument that you can see in your photo. Food was always part of the attraction, not just seafood but the Portuguese bakeries that sold meat pies as well as sweets. It was a culturally diverse place then, as it is now, but it was more low-key. These days it's too crowded and crazy for me, at least during peak season, and definitely more high-end food and shops. For better or worse.

I do still go to the outer Cape though, for the beaches and the bike trails, some of the most beautiful in New England. Truro especially. Your family's shop is great to know about. The outer Cape is a long drive from Boston, but the ferry will take you to Provincetown in under 90 minutes. I bring my bike and pick up something for lunch before heading to the beach. I will stop by Pop + Dutch next time I'm there, it sounds terrific.

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I am on the Outer Cape now and thought I would add my dining experiences to this thread. It's insanely crowded out here right now so we won't be traveling other than on foot until after the weekend, but I'll be out in Provincetown a couple of times and will stop in to Pop and Dutch. I remember seeing it last year but we did not go in.

We came out Thursday night to beat the bridge traffic and stayed two nights at a hotel in Eastham before checking into our usual rental house in Wellfleet. On Friday we had breakfast at the Fairway https://www.fairwaycapecod.com

My niece and nephew both had pancakes

My husband got the Flying Pigwich. Ironically they forgot to put the bacon on it! That was fine because my meal came with too much bacon so I gave him some of mine

I had the Nanny's potato pancakes with poached eggs

We were expecting more members of our group to join us that evening so decided to just go back to the same place for dinner. I'm lazy like that sometimes. My husband and I shared an order of fish tacos. They were huge. I could have been done eating after this.

My niece and nephew got mozzarella sticks

I ordered linguini with clams for dinner. It was enough for five people! I prefer smaller portions.

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Yesterday we lost two of our six members of vacationing party to their need to return to work, so it's just my husband, niece and nephew for the rest of the trip. We were only moderately hungry yesterday (and did not feel like driving) so went to a casual place near our rental house, the Pearl http://www.wellfleetpearl.com

clams casino

fried calamari

avocado but with housemate chips

salad with strawberries and goat cheese

pasta with creamy pesto and chicken

oyster po boy

We are going to Provincetown today.

5

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A couple more updates. The day we went to Provincetown was HOT, so we decided not to go into town. Instead, we had lunch at Mac's Fish House, which is about a mile away from the center of town. https://www.macsseafood.com/restaurants/macs-provincetown My niece is a sushi hound, so she ordered many of the same things I showed in the Mac's Shack post. We also ordered a tempura fried spicy tuna stuffed avocado:

I had the swordfish pastrami rueben

Husband had a scallop roll

Nephew had a burger (no picture). He's allergic to shrimp, crab, and lobster, so has pretty limited choices when dining out on the Cape. Luckily he really likes burgers.

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For our last lunch we went to the Beachcomber http://www.thebeachcomber.com This is the most famous restaurant in Wellfleet, partially for the music and bar scene. We always go at lunch which is crazy enough. I am too old to deal with the shenanigans at night. The beach was not so welcoming on this day

We opted to stay up top of the dune. It was cold enough to warrant some clam chowder

My nephew loves this restaurant because they fry their fries in a separate fryer, so he can eat them

I also had a fried clam roll. Whole bellies of course

niece just wanted mozzarella sticks

For our final dinner, we returned to Mac's Shack. Oysters French

random sushi

the big tuna

striped bass

That's it for now. I'll be back out there for 10 days next month and have some new places I want to try. I'll post about them here.

10

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Winslow's and Mac's gave me some ideas on presentation, but the kicker for me was smoked mussels on a pizza, whoa! I see corn kernals, basil maybe and some sort of crema/mozza? This needs an experiment...

Thanks again - looking forward to August report

2

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I'm back! This is not the long report. We went for an impromptu weekend in Chatham. The long trip starts on Saturday. I was with a bigger group so missed a lot of photos I would have taken. We ate twice at Bistro on Main and I've got nothing from those meals.

The house we rented for the weekend

Impudent Oyster foods.

chopped salad

scallop roll

turkey club with housemade chips

burger

fish sandwich

fish tacos

butterscotch sundae for the nephew

coconut creme brûlée

key lime cheesecake for the niece

A breakfast at the Lazy Lobster. This breakfast took two hours. Annoying.

chocolate chip pancakes for the nephew

eggs benedict with spinach/tomato instead of Canadian bacon. Served with regrettable hash browns. This was mine and the eggs were overcooked :-(

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I am back on the Cape for the next 10 or so days. Yesterday we went to an old Wellfleet favorite and one I have already shown here, Winslows Tavern. I love sitting on their shady front terrace. We started with some broiled oysters. Pesto

and tabasco lime butter

nephew had a salad with gorgonzola dolce, hazelnuts, pears and apples

we also ordered a tomato burrata salad to share

and a pizza with figs and bacon jam

crab cake sandwich

softshell crab sandwich

lobster risotto cake

double chocolate mousse

tiramisu

We are not dining out today, I am grilling some swordfish. I'll put that on the dinner thread. Tomorrow we are going someplace new to us.

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@liamsaunt, your photographs are just stunning. Granted, you've got some pretty wonderful subject matter in those gorgeous dishes, but you've done a magnificent job in capturing them. Thank you for sharing.